Crown and Shield
by Diorelli
Summary: AshexBasch Their past, present and future. 50 sentences. Comments, suggestions, reviews are extremely welcome.


1. **Air** – For about a week after he confided to her the horrors he endured in Nalbina, Ashe would wake up in the middle of the night, in a cold sweat, gasping for breath.

2. **Apples** – She confided out of the blue that she's considering remarrying again, if not for herself but to secure a future for Dalmasca to which his only reply is the knot on his throat bobbing.

3. **Beginning** – An accidental touch, an embarrassed smile, a tentative kiss, one thing led to another and in the grassy bank by the lake, they finally succumbed to what they had fiercely denied over the years.

4. **Bugs** – It never fails to amuse Basch that the woman who fought tooth and nail for her kingdom and felled men and huge beasts alike, was scared of tiny critters she could easily squash with her foot.

5. **Coffee** – She was so pleased with herself at accomplishing such a minor task at camp that he mustered all of his military resolve to keep his expression neutral and not to spit the bitter brew.

6. **Dark** – Suspended in a cage deep in the bowels of the dungeon wherein light was want to seep through, his thoughts were his only companions, of which the princess was the most persistent visitor.

7. **Despair** – She listened with bated breath to Vossler's report of the events in Nalbina, of the slain king and the captain turned traitor.

8. **Doors** – Who goes to whose room was all relative save for the two careful, successive raps by the door.

9. **Drink** – The Lord Larsa, no longer the child emperor but a wizened ruler of fifty and three, raises his cup to toast the newly wedded couple.

10. **Duty** – He donned these judicier's plates not only for his brother's behest but also for his Dalmasca.

11. **Earth** – Their eyes met as the earth beneath them trembled for the mechanical behemoth has awakened to take its place as lord of the skies.

12. **End** – It was a debilitating illness but Ashe stayed on by his bedside till he drew his last breath, their tired, wrinkled hands clasping.

13. **Fall** – Perhaps it was the Fates way of keeping the universe's cosmic balance, for when she regained her kingdom through the Bahamut's demise, she has lost a valuable comrade.

14. **Fire** – Goosebumps formed on a breezy night made her seek the solace of the campfire to sit beside him, instinctively moving closer to share his warmth.

15. **Flexible** – Time wasn't always on their side but they learned to manipulate, stretch and bend it by making each stolen moment they had matter.

16. **Flying** – Basch intensely disliked the cramped quarters and the stagnant vent in airships which to him was _too_ much like prison but his pragmatic self often argued that it was the quickest way to Rabanastre.

17. **Food** – Hatred and revenge quickly festered under the dire conditions of the sewers and Ashe clung to it as desperately as her body needs its nourishment.

18. **Foot** – Ashe tried to hide the rather uncharacteristic girlish giggle when she discovered that the six-foot, brawny and battle hardened warrior had such ticklish feet.

19. **Grave** – "…Died the first time through the treachery of his twin, lived again to ensure peace through the same guise that was the symbol of a cruel empire; although he falls to a battle he couldn't win, a great hero never stays down long - he already clears the way for us on the other side so we don't have to toil through when our time eventually comes."

20. **Green** – He was no longer a green, untried youth yet he can not explain the quickening cadence of his heart when Her Majesty announced, rather loudly, from the opposite side of the ballroom that she was retiring for the night.

21. **Head** – The crown on her forehead grows heavier each time he says his goodbyes.

22. **Hollow** – The seemingly drawn-out and painful rebuilding process makes Ashe question if she had done enough or if their victory was hollow.

23. **Honor **– He knows they shouldn't have started this, that they shouldn't have continued doing so, and that they – he – should have stopped it.

24. **Hope** – It was the fervent hope of the people when the Queen presented the tiny heir still swaddled in blankets, that a ruler born in peace should also rule in peace.

25. **Light** – His light tread behind her, careful but sure, reassures her whenever the pangs of self-doubt creep in during their perilous journey across Ivalice.

26. **Lost** – Basch gave his men a withering look he hoped his twin would be proud of to prevent them from ribbing him about his strange and sudden inability to find his way around Archades – again.

27. **Metal** - The clang of steel reverberated throughout the courtyard as the headstrong Lady Ashe foregoes her written studies to spar with the Captain.

28. **New** – She couldn't recall a time where she didn't knew him, in fact, she knew him all her life, so it never ceases to astound her how she learns something new about him each time.

29. **Old** – They walked on the aisle slowly, as if savouring each step that led to this day, both having that extra spring not through the glory of youth but of finally shedding the mantle of duty that weighed them down.

30. **Peace** – Images flashed at dizzying speed, of places she's been and of people she'd known, she smiles and she lets go with a final exhale – it had been full life.

31. **Poison** – It was like looking into a mirror, except the other man's eyes was seeping with so much poison that it consumes him as much as his intended prey.

32. **Pretty** – To call it pretty would be quaint, breathtaking – overreaching; Archadia was a lot of things but it wasn't home.

33. **Rain** – The heavy rain in Giza forced the party in a secluded, confined shelter making Ashe's attempt of ignoring his presence and avoiding his gaze unsuccessful but was surprised at the open, guiltless blue gazing back.

34. **Regret** – They should have settled their rift a long time ago, he thinks with a hint of regret, before it was used as a ruse of an excuse to bring down a kingdom.

35. **Rose** – She is often compared to the Dalmascan Rose, a peculiar one of its kind for it doesn't shy from the unrelenting heat nor wither from the scarce water and while it lets you admire her beauty, the thorns prevent you to grasp it and claim for your own.

36. **Secret** – Their intimate knowledge of the palace – the concealed doors leading to hidden passages – helped perpetuate the myth of a frigid monarch and a ruthless magister.

37. **Snakes** – Accusing her of compromising Dalmasca by sleeping with their former oppressor; the xenophobic faction of the Senate failed to make her any unpopular with her people as it brought back the prominent members of the now defunct Resistance to her defence, letting it slip that the judge in question was none other than a former captain whose death was greatly exaggerated.

38. **Snow** – He never thought he'd be back after all these years, especially in this circumstance, but it's a request he couldn't refuse and in this picturesque village nestled at the foot of the mighty, snow-capped Landian Alps, his twin is finally laid to rest where it all began.

39. **Solid** – Lying on his chest with his arms around her, Ashe's eyelids flutter as she drifts in between consciousness until the steady, solid rhythm of his heart lulls her to a peaceful and dreamless sleep.

40. **Spring** – The thawing winds from the lands due east not only brought Archadia a sign of warmer climes on the way but also a whiff of a storm that is brewing from the Dalmascan front; the Queen is widowed, unmarried and with child.

41. **Stable – **Ashe quickly abandoned a childhood infatuation to try to stabilize a region under an ever increasing threat of war by tying the knot with Rasler of Nabradia – a friend, a distant cousin, a man she was extremely fond of.

42. **Strange** – How strange that a simple missive from Penelo could make him question his allegiance as his eyes travel from the magister helm in his hands towards the eastern horizon.

43. **Summer** – He still hasn't grown accustomed to the hottest days of his adopted country, no matter how much precaution or protective creams he applies, the heat still scalds him straight to his bones.

44. **Taboo** – In locked doors and closed windows, the citizens of Rabanastre whisper excitedly about the supposed deaths of both the captain and the princess, the impostor in Bhujerba, the allegedly numerous sightings – coming to their own conclusion that nothing, if ever, is what it seemed.

45. **Ugly** – She didn't recoil at the sight of the lashes that traverse the breadth of his back, instead she surmises that if these were the marks of courage then surely he was the bravest of them all.

46. **War** – A princess, a knight, pirates, orphans and refugees - there was no difference at all amongst all the people that is trudging their way up on the icy slopes of Mt. Bur-Omisace; no one escapes the full brunt of the war, whoever you might be.

47. **Water** – She found him unpacking his belongings in a stream feeding the River Nebra, with the intent of convincing him to let her join in one of his hunting trips, but couldn't avert her eyes when he divested himself of his clothing.

48. **Welcome** – They both welcomed their new roles with staggering alacrity, mindful that when these activities grind to a halt, they might yearn for the one person who could understand the sacrifices they've made for a country they both love.

49. **Winter** – Teeth chattering, shivering, her body curled in a tight ball on her pallet with her mind as restless as the swirls of snow that howled in Paramina yet she refused his offer of comfort fearing he would think her as weak and fragile as a newly formed glaze of ice over a hapless body of water.

50. **Wood** – These toys – a wooden sword for sword fighting practice and a wooden doll he whittled in the fashion that was popular in his native country – brings her back to the days when things were black and white not grey, where lines were clearly drawn and do not overlap nor intersect, a time when she was just a princess and he, her knight.


End file.
